'Boaty McBoatface' Could Be The Name Of A New Royal Ship In Britain

Boaty McBoatface could be the name of a new multi-million dollar research vessel in the United Kingdom, after the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) opened up suggestions from the public to name the ship online.

Of course, the Internet came up with a cracker.

“RSS Boaty McBoatface” is leading the pack followed closely by “RRS Henry Worseley” and the “RRS David Attenborough.”

The campaign, conveniently called #NameOurShip has asked people to cast their vote online, advising in a statement they were after an inspirational name.

“The ship could be named after a local historical figure, movement, or landmark -- or a famous polar explorer or scientist,” the statement read.

But it seems the British public have other plans, as the rather non-majestic suggestion of “Boaty McBoatface” began trending on Sunday, with the site experiencing outages as Brits jumped online to get in on the fun.

Due to be operational in 2019, the boat will be 128 metres long and weigh around 15,000 tonnes.

Due to a high amount of traffic some users may be experiencing problems using the #NameOurShip site. Please bear with us.

This only reminds us of past online polls that have either gone horribly wrong or outrageously right:

1. When Mountain Dew asked the Internet to name its new drink

But the results were so offensive the whole campaign was shut down (“Hitler did nothing wrong” and “Diabeetus” topped the rankings).

2. Hungary's Stephen Colbert Bridge

Patriotic Hungarians loved the American comedian so much, they named Budapest's new bridge after him. Despite winning in both rounds of the public vote, Colbert breached two rules: to be named after a bridge he must speak Hungarian fluently, or be dead. Instead, the Hungarian Committee of Geographical Names decided on the name "Megyeri Bridge."

When Walmart ran a campaign on its Facebook page promising fans a store visit from the rapper himself for the store location that got the most "likes" of course, pranksters everywhere thought it a good idea to suggest Kodiak, Alaska -- an inaccessible, far away place... 70, 000 "likes" later and the "Timber" artist made good on his promise (albeit, flying in by private jet no less).